by S. Victor Aaron One of my favorite funk-jazz albums of all time isn’t by a crossover act like the Crusaders or Herbie Hancock’s Headhunters, but by a living giant of a jazz alto sax blower. I’m talking about Lou Donaldson. Starting out as a very good Charlie Parker disciple leading bebop sessions on par with his most logical contemporaryRead More

NICK DERISO: “The Spirits of Our Ancestors,” pianist Randy Weston’s vibrant exploration of the African roots within jazz, remains a rapturous delight in any language. Legends Dizzy Gillespie, Idris Muhammad, longtime Basie sideman Benny Powell and Pharoah Sanders appear, while groundbreaking trombonist Melba Liston — then working for the first time with Weston since suffering a stroke in the mid-1980sRead More

by S. Victor Aaron I was trying to get mentally prepared to actually describe a Charlie Hunter record when on a whim I decided to cue up GB’s The Other Side Of Abbey Road. That got me to thinking about Nick’s piece on the best Beatle remakes (hey Nick, I forgot one: Stevie Wonder’s sizzling 1970 version of “We CanRead More

By S. Victor Aaron When Nick’s article on that badass Idris Muhammed started name-checking all the jazz heavyweights that this great dummer had been associated with, I then realized how many records with his imprint that are among some of my all time favorites. It would easy to launch into a gush-fest over John Scofield’s Groove Elation, but Sco’ hasRead More

by Nick DeRiso Was grooving to a 2002 reissue of the titanic groovefest ‘Power of Soul’ tonight, and got to thinking about Idris Muhammad – a funk and jazz drummer of the first order, born in New Orleans as Leo Morris. He started out, of course, playing in soul bands, and some great ones – with Larry Williams and JerryRead More